Video game controller

ABSTRACT

A video game includes a controller, a processor and display. The controller includes a special quick look button  28  that, when activated, allows a player to causes a looking movement of a character that simulates the lateral rotation of the head or upper body of a person looking sideways while walking forward.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation to application Ser. No. 11/207,456filed Aug. 19, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,235,012, which claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent application Ser. No. 60/603,578 filed Aug.23, 2004 and incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of Invention

This invention pertains to a game controller and more particularly, tonovel components that control the movements of an action figure in agame in a much more realistic manner than in the prior art. Thecontroller may be used with a dedicated electronic apparatus or ageneral purpose computer such as a PC. Additionally, the locations ofsome of the existing components have been shifted to render thecontroller more ergonomic.

B. Description of the Prior Art

An article in the Jun. 5, 2005 issue of the New York Times described howjoy sticks were originally used for controlling airplanes at thebeginning of the twentieth century. In any event, joy sticks or videogame controllers became popular as the preferred devices for controllingvideo games.

As originally developed in the 1970's, joy sticks had a lever pivotingfrom a central joined and spring biased toward a neutral position. Thelever was accompanied by a programmable single push-button used forvarious functions in different games.

Game controllers continued to evolve from their one button origin to aconfiguration with several buttons and other control means calculated togive a player the illusion of being completely immersed in the virtualworld of a game. One typical game controller is Sony's Dual Shockcontroller (described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,906). This controller has aplethora of buttons and other control means. For example, it includestwo analog thumb sticks, a D-pad, four digital face buttons, two sets ofleft and right digital shoulder buttons placed on the same verticalplane in close proximity to each other and a start and select button.

In the past, like many previous video game controllers, the NintendoSNES controller relied exclusively on the D-pad to achieve charactermovement. (The D-pad is a digital cross-shaped directional pad,illustrated in more detail below). The pad was used to turn movement onor off. Once movement was activated, the character would only move in agiven direction at a constant speed. Needless to say, this action wasvery stilted and looked and felt too awkward to be realistic.

Subsequent advancements in technology enabled the video game industry toshift from flat 2D visuals to fully-realized 3D worlds. Theseadvancements necessitated additional components for character actions,such as four digital face buttons and two to four digital shoulderbuttons. A left analog stick was used that was more than adequate forcharacter movement, wherein controlled walking and running wasaccomplished with a relatively low degree of precision, as opposed tolooking and aiming in a three dimensional environment, which requirestremendous precision to achieve with accuracy. Therefore, using theright analog stick 14R solely for viewing the game environment or aiminga weapon is severely limiting to the game player.

At the Electronic Expo or E3 held on May 11, 2004 in Los Angeles, Sonyannounced a new portable video game system called the PSP®. Internetvideo game news websites, like gamespot.com, covered by the PSP'scomponents and functionality. One example of gamespot.com documentingthe new device is an article published by James Yu on Feb. 4, 2005appearing in the “Hardware” section of Gamespot.com's website andentitled “PSP 101”. In the afore-mentioned article the PSP® is shownwith an analog tracking button. This button relies on significantmeasurable sliding movement in all directions on the horizontal plane toallow the game character to walk or look around the game environment.There are several reasons why this approach is still unsatisfactory.

The look/aim movement in existing games equates to the game characterturning its body left and right from head to toe. The problems withusing the right analog stick 14R or the PSP's sliding analog button forthe look/aim function include:

diminished control over the precision movement of the look function as aresult of the extended tilting area of the right analog stick 14R (thegreater the tilting range of the stick the less control the player hasover the look/aim function). The PSP's analog sliding button, which isbetter than the right analog stick 14R for the look/aim function, stillfalls short of precision control as a result of its extended slidingrange in the horizontal plane.

A video game player using the right analog stick 14R for the look/aimfunction will face a slow reaction time when reaching for the four maindigital face buttons (12A, B, C, and D) as a result of having to lifttheir right thumb off the right analog stick 14R and press it onto oneof the four main digital face buttons.

In addition, there are several problems associated with the placement ofthe left and right digital shoulder buttons (32L and 32R) on existinggame controller, including:

a. fatigue as a direct result of the game player elevating his middlefingers for lengthy time periods to reach and manipulate the left andright digital shoulder buttons (32L & 32R);

b. discomfort and cramping from the repeated back and forth motion ofthe video game player lifting his middle fingers from their natural downand back position to press the left and right digital shoulder buttons(32L & 32R) directly under and on the said vertical plane as the leftand right analog triggers (30L & 30R); and

c. slow reaction time for the video game player when he has to lift hismiddle fingers from a natural down and back position to a very differentelevated angle to press and utilize the left and right digital shoulderbuttons.

Other attempts have been made to improve the design of the standardvideo game controller. For example, the U.S. patent applicationpublication US20040090416 expands the configuration of a current videogame controller by adding an action button. In U.S. patent applicationpublication US200440090416 an action button, (shown by numeral 54 inFIG. 2) can record 1 series of complex attack actions, through the useof a specialized memory controller, and then execute all of the attackmovements consecutively with one press of a single action button.Problems with using the action button 54 include:

diminished ability of skilled players who rely on hand eye coordinationand intellectual strategy to perform difficult game maneuvers todistinguish themselves

the elimination of a fair and balanced game play environment

several limitation of the range of competitive parameters upon which allvideo games are based, as all players will be able to set up and executeextremely complex combat maneuvers via a single button press.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention comprises a system and method for enabling video gameplayers to simulate the natural “look” movement of a game character on adisplay 108 by the addition of a quick look button 28. The quick lookbutton allows a player to cause a game character's head and/or upperbody or torso (from the waist to the head) to be turned independently ofthe lower body (from the hips to the feet), to simulate the naturalglance quick look movement of humans. The result is that the player cansee on his screen what lies in the character's field of vision as thecharacter turns his head. Preferably, quick look button 28 isimplemented as an analog button that can move discretely or continuouslyalong a predetermined range. Moreover, in one embodiment, the button canbe clicked in for a secondary function with different results based uponwhether or not the game character is stationary or moving. In addition,an analog tracking button 10 enhances the video game player's controlover the 360 degree look/aim function, in all horizontal and verticaldirections in a 3D environment, by comparison to the accuracy of a rightanalog stick 14R. The invention also includes placing the left digitalshoulder button 32L, and the right digital shoulder button 32R inrecessed positions below the left trigger 30L and the right trigger 30R,respectively, to make them more ergonomic and accessible to the fingersof gamers during extended game-play sessions. Whether a character turnsonly, his head, only his upper body (or torso) or the head in additionto the upper body is a function of the software used by an electronicgame to which the novel video game controller is connected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a top view of a video game controller 100 incorporating ananalog tracking button 10 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the video game controller 100 illustratingthe location of an analog quick look or sliding button 28 and left andright digital buttons (32L & 32R) shifted to a new, ergonomicallydesirable positions;

FIG. 3 is a three-quarter perspective view of the video game controllerof FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates how a conventional character turns;

FIG. 5 shows a character moving his torso in accordance with thisinvention, button 28;

FIG. 6 shows a map of a portion of a game traversed by a character usingthe video controller of FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 7A shows a flow chart illustrating commands issued and thecorresponding movement of the character in FIG. 6;

FIG. 7B shows a story board representation of a similar but slightlydifferent scenario of the actions that take place in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a character peeking around the corner in accordance withthis invention;

FIG. 9 shows a character looking behind him by turning his torso andhead in accordance with this invention;

FIGS. 10A and 10B show different kinds of video controllersincorporating a quick look button 28 in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 10C shows a PC mouse incorporating a quick look button 28 inaccordance with this invention;

FIG. 11 shows an alternate embodiment for the quick look button with aC-shaped track, respectively;

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment with two quick look buttons, one for lookingleft, and the other for looking right;

FIG. 13 shows an alternate embodiment with a tilting quick look button;and

FIG. 14 shows another kind of game controller incorporating the subjectinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is described in conjunction with video controllersused to play first and third person shooting and other similar types ofaction games, but may be incorporated in other types of games as well.The video game controllers shown in the drawings incorporate severalimprovements, including an analog quick look button 28 and, optionally,an analog tracking button 10. As described in more detail below thequick look button 28 is preferably a slide-type control device. Theanalog track button 10 is a device that relies on its resistive natureto add precision to the game-play. Like all the other control componentson a game controller 100, these components are also programmable by gamedevelopers, meaning that the response of a game to the activation andmovement of these buttons is determined by software. However,preferably, they are programmed to create a new kind of movement forgame characters, as described in more detail below, which enables gamedevelopers to greatly improve the new game-play experiences of players.

A further change is that the locations of two known digital shoulderbuttons (32L & 32R) have also been changed to increase theiraccessibility and their prolonged use level of comfort.

More specifically, FIGS. 1-3 show a game controller 100 constructed inaccordance with this invention. The controller 100 has a casing 24 witha top surface 102 and a button surface 104. Disposed on these surfacesthere are a plurality of devices that are used by a player to generatecommands for an electronic game 106 including a processor 106A, a memory106B holding software and firmware, and being associated with a screenor other visual display means 108. The controller 100 is connected tothe electronic game 106 either with a physical cable or connector 26 orby wireless means, including BLUETOOTH, WIFI or other similar channels.The electronic game 106 may be a PlayStation®, an Xbox®, and otherdedicated gaming devices or even a general purpose computer.

The various devices provide a player the ability to perform certainmaneuvers with game characters on screen 108. For example, a left analogstick 14L allows the video game character to walk/run forward and back,and strafe (side step) to the left and to the right. A right analogstick 14R allows the video game character to turn his entire body, fromhis head to his feet, to the left or the right. Stick 14R alsofacilitates the game character with other look/aim functions in a fullhorizontal and vertical three-dimensional 360 degree radius. The walkingmovement is controlled by the left analog stick 14L. Combined with theentire body turning movement of the right analog stick 14R, it enables aplayer to cause a video game character to turn his entire body and thenwalk or run into a new direction. This is essential to the video gamecharacter's ability to move through the game environment. The otherbuttons 12A-D, 16, 18, 22 etc. all provide various functions well knownto players.

The various elements of the controller 100 are listed below for the sakeof completeness:

24 housing 10 novel optional analog tracking button 12A, 12B, 12C, 12Ddigital face buttons 14R, 14L right and left analog sticks 16 startbutton 18 select button 20 D-pad 22 logo 26 electric connector 28 novelquick look button 30R, 30L analog triggers 32R, 32L digital shoulderbuttons 34 slot for memory card

A critically important facet of natural human movement has been missingfrom video games, especially since they entered the realm of 3Denvironments. That is, a game character can only look, shoot, and movein the same direction. So, for example, if a character is walking down acorridor he can only look straight ahead and shoot straight ahead. If hewants to look right or left he must first turn his whole body, whichwill initiate the game player to do one of two things; completely afterthe direction of the game character's movement or force the game charterto come to a full stop and then look to the left or to the right.

The reason for this unnatural behavior is illustrated in FIG. 4. Asshown in the top panel 200, the stick 14R is tilted to the left andmaintained in that position. In response, as shown in panels 202, 204,and 206; character C positioned initially to face forward, and then hiswhole body is turned to the left. This action is maintained, that is thebody is kept turning until the stick 14R is returned to its normal orneutral position. This motion can be combined with other actions, suchas causing the character to step forward or backward, raising his arm,firing a gun, etc. However, throughout all these actions, the body andthe head are always turned in the same direction. Problems with usingthe right analog stick 14R exclusively for look/aim function include:

forcing a game character to unnaturally turn its entire body, from itsfeet to its head, left and right, at all times, to view the game world(even when the game player has no intention to cause the game characterto walk in either of those directions);

leaving a game character vulnerable to attack by restricting it toturning its entire body left or right to view their surroundings when aquick glance in either of those directions would be more appropriate;and

reducing the character's mobility because once he has turned his bodyright or left, he must turn his body back again if he is to moveforward.

There are innumerable game situations where it is desirable to have thecharacter “look” in a given direction, by naturally turning its head orupper body with speed and efficiency, to scout an area for potentialdanger (as a human soldier would do in real life). However, it is slowand illogical for the game character to turn its entire body during thistime because it leaves its back exposed to enemy fire. In everydirection it wants to scan but not traverse. FIG. 7B depicts an exampleof the advantage independent upper body rotation, facilitated by button28, affords the player in real-time game-play situations. Plate 500shows the character C walking forward down the hallway 260. As heapproaches the hallway on his right 262, while continuing his forwardmotion, he slides the quick look button 28 to the right and holds itthere (depicted in plate 502); this rotates his upper body (torso) inthe corresponding direction and allows the character C to keep hisforward movement while passing and looking down the hallway 262 on theright. In plate 504, the game character C has passed the hallway on theright 262 yet before he reaches the hallway on the left 264, whilecontinuously walking forward, the player quickly slides button 28 fromits furthest right position on its defined track 26B to its furthestleft position. Doing so enables the player to keep his forward directionwhile quickly turning his full view (torso) to the left in preparationof confronting possible danger (in the form of object 266) down thehallway on the left 264. In contrast, if a player attempted to approachthe same situation with today's model for game character movement thefollowing would occur. As depicted in plate 506, a player using astandard game controller without the analog quick look button 28 wouldhave to first rotate the character's C entire body (feet to head) from aforward facing position to the right. At this point the character C willhave to begin to strafe or side step to the left to continuously movedown the main hallway 260. As a result, before the player can turn afull 180 degrees to the left, the player will expose his back topotential enemy fire 266 coming from the hallway on the left 264; thisillustrates the impossibility of the player to keep his forward movementdown the main hallway 260 while safely looking in the adjacent hallwayson his right 262 and his left 264.

This problem is resolved in the present invention by the provision of asliding spring loaded button 28 which is referred to herein as a quicklook button. As shown somewhat diagrammatically in FIG. 2, button 28consists of a knob 28A moving in a track or groove 28B. The knob 28A isbased by springs (not shown) to the center position shown in FIG. 2. Theplayer can then shift or slide the switch laterally either to the leftor the right.

The quick look button 28 endows a video game character with the abilityto turn its head and (optionally) the upper body (from its waist up)independently of its lower body (from its hips to its feet), whichenables the video game character to move in a forward direction, yetlook simultaneously to the left or the right, among many other newcombinations of movements and look abilities.

As shown in FIG. 2, preferably button 28 is positioned above and to theleft of the analog trigger 30L. In one embodiment, this action enablesvideo game players to turn the head of the video game character,independently of the upper or lower body, thereby simulating the naturalway humans look left or right while walking in a straight line.Preferably, the angular position of the head an the speed at which thehead is turned tracks the position of the quick look button 28. In thismanner, the head of a game character can be turned to an anatomicallycorrect angle, typically, about 90 degrees, in either direction. Asmentioned above, the quick look button 28 is biased by springs to itscenter position. As a result, when the button 28 is released, itautomatically returns to its center or neutral position, shown in FIG.2. In response, unless other action is taken by the player, the head ofthe character returns to the forward position at the same time.

This concept is aptly illustrated in FIG. 5. In panel 210 a playerslides the quick look button 28 to the left. In response, the characterC turns his head to the left. If the button 28 is released, C's headreturns so that the character is “looking” again straight forward. Thissequence is referred to herein as a quick look movement and it simulatesthe natural movement of a person whose body is facing a forwarddirection and the person looks laterally or sideways for a short timeperiod. Preferably the movement of the head is proportional to themovement of the quick look button 28. The limits of the movementcorrespond to the limits of movement of a natural body, i.e., about 90degrees in each direction.

The quick look button 28 can also be depressed at any position of knob28A analog track 28. In one embodiment, if the button 28 is depressed or“clicked in” and the character is not moving, the relative angle betweenthe head and the rest of the body of the person is “locked in” andremains unchanged even if the quick look button 28 is moved to anotherposition, or is released so that it returns to its central or neutralposition. In this embodiment, if the character is stationary, the headis “released” by depressing or clicking the quick look button 28 again.If at this time, the quick look button 28 is in its neutral position,the head returns to the forward position. If the quick look button 28 isat different position along track 28B when it is clicked, the gamecharacter's head quickly turns to a new angle corresponding to theposition of the button 28 along the track 28B when it is clicked asecond time to unlock the head. Conversely, if the character is movingwhile their upper body is turned to the left or right, with or without alocked view, and they click in button 28 their lower body (hips to feet)will always turn to face the direction of their upper body (waist tohead).

The analog quick look button 28 is designed so that it can work inconjunction with the other components of the video controller 100 andnot replace them. For example, operating quick look button 28 togetherwith right analog stick 14R can cause the turning of the character'sbody and head at the same time.

In another embodiment of the invention, the analog quick look button 28is used to control the position of the upper body. In this embodiment,when the player slides button 28 left or right, he causes the wholeupper body of the game character to pivot with respect to the lowerbody. This embodiment is effective, for example, in a shooter game wherethe game character can shoot to the right or left while still facing orwalking forward. In one embodiment, clicking button 28 while thecharacter is not moving can cause the angle of the upper body to belocked until released, as discussed above.

Clicking the quick look button 28 while the character is moving causesthe lower body (or hips) to be turned quickly in alignment with theupper body (or head). This operation may be combined with various othereffects, such as walking, running, etc. In other words, while thecharacter is walking, sliding the analog quick look button 28 left orright by some amount causes the head to turn by a corresponding angle.Clicking the quick look button 28 while the head is turned causes therest of the body to turn and come into alignment with the head wherebythe whole body is now facing in a new direction. The same operationtakes place if the character's whole torso is turned by button 28instead of just its head.

Whether just the video game character's head or its entire upper body(torso) may be a programmable parameter that is constant for the wholegame. Alternatively, the parameter may be context sensitive. Morespecifically, the parameter may change as the game is played, dependentupon various factors, including the context of the video game at thespecific time at which the look control is invoked. For example, thevideo game designer may design the game such that only the head isturned if the character is unarmed, but the entire upper body is turnedwhen the character is armed. In one embodiment, the video gamecharacter's entire upper body is turned, so that the character may e.g.,employ a simulated weapon supported by its hand and arm or hands andarms. For better realistic effects, a game may be programmed so thateven non-controlled characters (e.g., characters not controlled by aplayer) can turn their heads or their upper body.

FIGS. 6, 7A, 7B present a relatively simple scenario for a game andillustrate some of the features and advantages of the quick look button28. FIG. 6 shows a plan view of playing field consisting of a maincorridor 260 and two side corridors 262, 264 branching off from the maincorridor. FIG. 7A describes the action of a player using the controller100 to move a character through the corridor. The action starts in step300. In step 302 the character C is shown on display 108 facing forwardand walking down corridor 260 until point P1—the branch off point forcorridor 262. At this point, the player stops the character C (step 304)and the player slides the button 28 to the right (step 306). This actioncauses the character to move its head to the right and the player isshown the scene seen by the character, i.e., corridor 262 (step 308).The player then clicks in the quick look button 28, releases it andstarts the character C walking again up along corridor 260 (step 310).The character C keeps its head turned to the right (locked) as it walksstraight and the player is shown the remaining part of corridor 262(step 312). Once the character is past the corridor 262, the playerstops walking and clicks in button 28 at its center or neutral position,the character's head returns to the central or neutral position to gazestraight ahead until point P2 (step 314).

Next, at point P2, the player continues walking the character C while atthe same time he slides the analog quick look button 28 to the left(step 316). The character C walks straight, but turns its head left. Theplayer is then shown corridor 264 with object 266 (step 318). The playersees the object and clicks the quick look button 28 while moving forward(step 320). This causes the character C to turn its whole bodyimmediately (so that it is now facing to the left), and start walkingdown the corridor 264 toward object 266 (step 322). At this point,because the character was moving and not stationary when the analogquick look button 28 was clicked in, the player must release button 28to its neutral position to reset its standard functionality for useagain.

This sequence illustrates how various commands on the video controllertriggers corresponding actions of the character.

In another embodiment, the video controller and its software are adaptedto provide a response to the activation of the analog quick look button28 that is dependent on other factors within the video game. In thisembodiment, actions of the game character are used to invoke a specialfunction. For example, the video game environment may include at certaintimes or at certain places or locations within the game an icon thatindicates that the quick look button 28 may perform a special functionwithin that context. In just one example of many possible specific quicklook button 28 context-sensitive features, the icon may indicate that ifthe game player moves the quick look button 28 while near a certainportion of the currently-displayed game environment, the game charactermay peer around a corner with analog precision, by leaning its upperbody to one side or the other until the head reaches past the corner. Inthis example, illustrated in FIG. 8, in plate 400 the character iswalking down a corridor. In plate 402, the character reaches a cornerand the game designer pre-labeled some portions of the game environmentwith icons, such as 404 that indicates to the game player that he hasoption to exercise the special function of the quick look button 28 ornot, for example by closely approaching a game environment feature likea corner or not. In one embodiment, the icon 404 may graphicallyrepresent the associated special function of the quick look button 28.For example, the icon may depict a leaning game character to indicatethat the quick look button 28 will allow the game player to cause thegame character to lean at an appropriate point in the game environmentwith analog precision; whereas, in today's games the character is forcedto digitally lean out which either over or under exposes his positionand thereby places him in danger or limits his view. In one embodiment,the icon's location on the video screen 108 may be uncorrelated with thepart of the game environment at which the game player may exercise thespecial function. For example, the location within the game environmentat which the special function can be invoked may be clear from thecontext of the game at that time.

Alternatively, the icon may be located upon or close to the part of thevideo game environment at which the special function may be invoked—forexample an icon may be placed upon a corner wall where leaning aroundthat corner wall is possible. As another alternative, the icon may onlyrepresent a general indication that a special function of the quick lookbutton 28 may be invoked within that environment, for example, to makethe game more challenging by requiring the game character to explore theenvironment to discover precisely where the special function may beexercised. To complete the explanation, in plate 406 the character hasleaned forward so that he can pear around the corner, as seen plate 406thereby exposing only a small portion of his body.

In another embodiment, the analog quick look button 28 can also be movedto the left or right at any time to realize various extended functionswith different or enhanced results. For example, in most instances, thecharacter is able to rotate his head by up to 90 degrees in eachdirection (left or right from a forward facing position) for a totalfield view of 180 degrees (from the far left to the far right or viceversa). However, in some instances, a more extended view is required.For this purpose, when the special extended option is enabled bypressing and holding in one of the many action buttons on the controller100 first, the character can move his head so that he can change hisview by up to 180 degrees. This feature may be useful when a playerwants to look behind the character without turning the character orotherwise change his direction of movement. One realistic way ofimplementing this special feature is to rotate the upper torso by 90degrees and the head by an additional 90 degrees to obtain a totalrotation of up to preset limit, such as 180 degrees (this extendedfunction of the analog quick look button 28 will only occur when adesignated action button is pressed in first or simultaneously). Thisfeature is illustrated in FIG. 9. The analog sliding or quick lookbutton 28 will always return to its centered position when it isreleased, even after it has been clicked in, while the video gamecharacter's view will remain locked in the game world (stationary click)until the analog sliding button 28 is clicked in once more. The gamecharacter's view will return, from looking to the left or right (in alocked position) with only its head and torso to a forward-facingposition. Note that the game character can move with a locked view at anangle as discussed before. In one embodiment, the game character's viewwill only lock if the clicking function is initiated when the characteris stationary (as opposed to clicking the quick look button 28 when thecharacter is moving, which will bring the game character's lower body toface the direction of his upper body—the analog quick look button 28needs to be reset by releasing it to its neutral position only when it'sbeen clicked in while the game character is moving). Put simply, a newfunction of the quick look button 28 may be invoked by the game playerwhen he manipulates another button on the controller before manipulatingthe quick look button 28. For example, the game player may hold down theA button of a standard video controller and then use the quick lookbutton 28 to cause the video game character to look over its shoulder,possibly even after using the quick look button 28 to rotate the gamecharacter's upper body or entire body.

Another improvement presented herein is the analog tracking button 10.Preferably this button is placed above and to the left of two of thedigital face buttons 12A and 12B of a standard video game controller, asshown in FIG. 1. Functionally, the analog tracking button 10 is similarto and can be used to perform all the actions of the right analog stick14R. The main difference is mechanical. Instead of a joy stick, thebutton 10 can be implemented as smooth ball rotating in a socket (notshown) and optical sensors trained on the ball. Thus button 10 has thesame structure as a track ball that has replaced the mouse as a pointingdevice. However, the video game player's control over the 360 degreelook function, in all horizontal and vertical directions in a 3Denvironment, will be executed with much greater precision with theanalog tracking button 10 by comparison to the accuracy of the rightanalog stick 14R.

The advantage of the tracking button 10 resides in its resistive nature,its non tilting nature, and its barely discernable sliding movement, inall directions, only on the horizontal plane. The game character'svertical look function comes from the video game player pushing thetracking button 10 forward or back (for the right analog stick 14R itwould be tilting forward or back) while the game character's left andright look function comes from the video game player pushing thetracking button 10 to the left or the right (for the right analog stick14R it would be tilting to the left or the right) which in turn rotatesthe game character's entire body from head to toe; thereby, enabling thegame character to walk, using the left analog stick 14L, in anydirection.

The tracking button 10 dramatically improves the analog precisionmovement over the look function because the speed of the game player'sviewing movement will be dependent upon how hard the player pushesagainst or tries to slide the analog tracking button 10 (in anydirection on the horizontal plane) and not on how far the player tiltsthe right analog stick 14R, which is where accuracy in the look movementis lost to over or under tilting, using standard video game controllers.Also, the analog tracking button 10 will sit slightly higher than thefour main face buttons 12A, B, C, and D in an effort not to interferewith them when the tracking button 10 is in use by the video gameplayer's right thumb.

Preferred locations for buttons 10 and 28 are shown in FIGS. 1-3.However, other locations may be desirable as well. Moreover, while theinvention was described primarily in association with the Xbox® FIG. 10Aand PlayStation® FIG. 10B video game controllers, one or both types ofdevices could be incorporated into other types of pointer devices aswell. For example, FIG. 14 shows the analog quick look button 28 in theXbox 360® controller while FIG. 10C shows a PC mouse with an analogquick look button 28.

A further improvement presented herein is the position of digitalbuttons 32L, 32R. As shown in FIGS. 2 & 3, preferably, the left digitalbutton 32L and the right digital button 32R are disposed in a recessedposition below the left trigger 30L and the right trigger 30R to makethem more ergonomic and accessible to the middle fingers of gamersduring extended game-play sessions. Conventionally, digital buttons 32Land 32R are located directly under the left and right analog triggers30L and 30R on the same vertical plane. This required the video gameplayer to elevate or lift his middle fingers to press the 32L and 32Rdigital buttons. When holding a standard video game controller the gameplayer's middle fingers naturally lay in the same recessed position thatthe digital buttons 32L and 32R were moved to; herein is no longer aneed to reach for these buttons during game-play.

Turning now to the figures, FIG. 1 is a top view of the video gamecontroller, with a standard button configuration, except for theaddition of my analog tracking button 10.

The plastic casing 24 is in the form of a standard video game controllerwith an estimated length of 4.6″ and a width of 6.0″. The length andwidth can vary depending on how large or small the manufacturer wantsthe video game controller to be. The analog tracking button 10 of theinvention is slightly concave and made of a rubber type material. Thetracking button 10 is very resistive to sliding (or any movement) in alldirections on the horizontal plane and is preferably used for the lookfunction. The amount of sliding movement, for the analog tracking button10, in all directions on the horizontal plane is barely discernable tothe video game player; it features a complete lack of tilting motioncoupled with a limited movement/resistive design. The four main plasticdigital face buttons of a standard video game controller, used toprovide more game character actions, are 12A, B, C, and D.

My improved video game controller achieves its result as follows: themicrochip inside the game controller receives signals from the analogquick look button 28 when it is moved to the left or the right. The gamecontroller then communicates with the video game console via theelectrical cord 26 thereby enabling the left and right head or upperbody movement independently from the lower body movement of the gamecharacter to be displayed on the display 108. The resistive nature ofthe tracking button 10 will enable console video game players toexperience precision control over the look function previously onlyavailable to PC video game players using the mouse. The process ofsignals being sent and received for the tracking button 10 will functionin a similar manner to the aforementioned analog quick look button 28.The new location of the left and right digital buttons 32L and 32R willprevent fatigue for the game player and will afford them instantaccessibility to the pressing of the four main face buttons 12A, B, C,and D.

There are many alternative ways to implement and place my trackingbutton 10, my analog quick look button 28, and the positioning of theleft and right digital buttons 32L and 32R. In one embodiment, a switchmechanism on the game controller is used to change the existing rightanalog stick 14R from a tilting component to a resistive slidingcomponent similar to the tracking button 10. The player can switch theright analog stick 14R back to a tilting component at any time.

In another embodiment, a track ball with analog properties, slightlybigger in size than one of the four digital face buttons, can be used inplace of the tracking button 10 to achieve the same level of precisionover the look function.

In yet another embodiment, the analog quick look button 28 could also beplaced above the right analog trigger 14R instead of the left analogtrigger 14L.

In still another embodiment, a small (relative to the size of the leftand right analog sticks 14L and 14R) tilting analog control stick can beused in place of the analog sliding button 28 below the four maindigital face buttons 12A, B, C, and D to perform the same head or upperbody rotation (looking to the left or the right). The small analogcontrol stick need only tilt left and right to perform its function.

The novel buttons and associated concepts have been described inconjunction with specific games in which a character progresses along apath or a maze. Of course, they are also useful for many other types ofgames, such as sports related games (including simulated football,baseball, soccer, boxing, wresting, and so on). In each of these games,the inventive buttons can be used to allow a participant to turn anupper body portion and look sideways.

In another embodiment, the left and right digital buttons 32L and 32Rcould be placed ¾ of an inch down and ½ an inch towards the medialaspect of the game controller so the tips of the game player's middlefingers can press the buttons in their natural position when holding thecontroller. In contrast, the game player can use the middle phalangesection of their middle fingers to press the left and right digitalbuttons 32L and 32R with my button configuration.

Moreover, there are many alternative ways to design and implement aneffective quick look button 28. An alternate analog quick look button128 may be provided that slides on a quarter circle path from itsneutral position to the left & right and returns, unassisted, to itspoint of origin upon release, as shown in FIG. 11. In other words, thebutton 128 moves along a crescent or C-shaped track 128T. The full rangeof the alternate analog quick look button 128 circular path is 180degrees (half circle) from its farthest left position to its farthestright position and vice versa. When the analog quick look button 128 isin its neutral center position it has a moveable range of 90 degrees(quarter circle) to the left or right; this correlates to the naturalupper body movement of the video game character (as exposed to thestraight line path to the left & right that's used in the primaryfiling).

In another embodiment, shown in FIG. 12 two buttons 28L, 28R areprovided, each sliding along a straight path. The two quick look buttons(28L & 28R) are normally biased in a back-to-back configuration in theirneutral starting positions. The left quick look button 28L moves to theleft and back to its starting point when released while the right quicklook button 28R would only move to the right and back its starting pointwhen released, causing the character to move its head (or torso) to theleft, and back, or right and back, respectively.

In another embodiment, a relatively small button 28S is provided as inFIG. 13. The button 28S could be a filing analog control stick. Tiltingbutton 28S left or right causes the character to move his head (ortorso) left or right.

All of the alternatively designed quick look buttons could be used inthe original location where I placed the quick look button 28, in frontof, above, and on a perpendicular angle to the left analog trigger 30Lor below the four main digital face buttons 12A, B, C, & D to performthe same video game character upper body rotation (looking to the leftor the right). Further still, the analog quick look button 28 can beplaced anywhere on the controller where it will be “instantlyaccessible” to the player.

FIG. 14 shows the location of a quick look button 28 on a video gamecontroller for an XBOX 360®.

It is clear from the above description that the concept of having acharacter move its head laterally in an action-type game is bestimplemented using a video controller with a button dedicated (or atleast temporarily assigned during a game) to this purpose, i.e., theanalog quick look button 28. However, some users may want to be able tohave this ability or functionality even if they do not have theappropriate video controller. An alternative way to obtain thefunctionality of the analog quick look button 28 in this case, forexample, on a standard video game controller is to configure the gameand the video controller into a mode in which right and left quick lookcommands are accepted. That is, the game is configured to accept quicklook right or quick look left when controls on the video controllers areused that are normally dedicated to other functions, or if two or morecontrols are activated simultaneously in a manner that has not been usedpreviously. For example, pressing down one of the many digital actionbuttons 32L on a video game controller 100 could signal the right analogstick 14R to behave like the analog quick look button 28 when it'stilted left or right. When one specific action button 32L is pressed theright analog stick 14R will only rotate the upper body of the gamecharacter left and right while losing its typical functionality ofturning the entire body of the game character left and right. The buttonstill allows the game character to look up and down. Of course, otherbuttons, controls or combination thereof maybe used on an existingcontroller to implement the quick look function.

None of the aforementioned examples should be construed as limiting thegeneral principle of the invention that includes special functioning ofthe analog quick look button 28 dependent on the current gameenvironment and/or the actions of the game character within thatenvironment.

1. A manual controller providing commands from a user to an electronic device comprising: a body having an exterior surface; a first selector disposed at a first positioned on said body to be operated by a user with a hand; and a second selector disposed at a second position adjacent to said first position, said second position being selected to allow the user to operate said first and second selectors simultaneously with the same hand, said second selector being movable in a predetermined path and being biased to a rest position whereby once the selector is moved along said predetermined path and released, it automatically returns to said rest position; and wherein said second selector further being movable toward and away from said exterior surface to generate respective commands.
 2. The controller of claim 1 wherein said second selector includes a button moving along said path.
 3. The controller of claim 1 wherein said path is linear.
 4. The controller of claim 1 wherein said second selector includes a knob movable along said path and a biasing member biasing said knob to said rest position.
 5. The controller of claim 1 wherein said track has two opposed ends and said rest position is defined between said two opposed ends.
 6. The controller of claim 4 wherein said biasing member is a spring.
 7. A pointing device for selectively controlling display elements on a screen associated with an electronic apparatus by generating commands, said electronic apparatus including a software module having a quick look feature, said pointing device comprising: a body with a control surface; a first selector mounted on said control surface, said first selector being selectively manipulated by a user, each movement of said first selector dynamically generating respective first commands; a second selector mounted on said body and being selectively manipulated by the user simultaneously with said first selector to dynamically generate respective second commands, said second selector moving along a predetermined path defined on said body, said path having a rest position, said second selector including a biasing element, wherein after the second selector is moved away from said rest position and is then released, it is automatically returned to said rest position by said biasing element; said second selector generating said second commands for said software module to implement said quick look feature when moved by the preselected user from said rest position, wherein said software module simulates walking of a character in a first direction; and simulates looking by said character in a second direction in response to said second commands while the body of said character is still turned in said first direction.
 8. The pointing device of claim 7 wherein said second selector includes a knob traveling along said path.
 9. The pointing device of claim 7 further comprising a spring as said biasing element.
 10. A manual controller providing commands from a user to an electronic device, said device including a software module having a quick look feature and a screen said manual controller comprising: a body having an exterior surface; a first selector disposed at a first positioned on said body to be operated by a user with a hand; and a second selector disposed at a second position adjacent to said first position, said second position being selected to allow the user to operate said first and second selectors simultaneously with the same hand, said second selector being movable in a predetermined path and being biased to a rest position whereby once the selector is moved along said predetermined path and released, it automatically returns to said rest position; said second selector generating commands for said software module to implement said quick look feature when moved by the user from said rest position, wherein said software module simulates walking of a character in a first direction; and simulates looking by said character in a second direction in response to said command while the body of said character is still turned in said first direction.
 11. The controller of claim 10 wherein said software module still simulates looking by said character in said second direction after said second selector is released.
 12. A manual controller providing commands from a user to an electronic device including a screen and a software module having a quick look feature, said manual controller comprising: a body having an exterior surface; a first selector disposed at a first positioned on said body to be operated by a user with a hand; and a second selector disposed at a second position adjacent to said first position, said second position being selected to allow the user to operate said first and second selectors simultaneously with the same hand, said second selector being movable in a predetermined path and being biased to a rest position whereby once the selector is moved along said predetermined path and released, it automatically returns to said rest position; said second selector generating commands for said software module to implement said quick look feature, wherein the actuation of said second selector by the user causes said software module to selectively present one of a first and a second scene on the screen.
 13. The pointing device of claim 7 wherein said software module still simulates looking by said character in said second direction after said second selector is released.
 14. The pointing device of claim 7, wherein the actuation of said second selector by the user causes said software module to selectively select one of a first and a second scene on the screen. 